Quiet Moments
by A Mad Man With A Box
Summary: "Amy noticed that his eyes had focussed on something in front of him. She turned to follow his gaze but there was nothing in his line of sight except the wall of the TARDIS." The Doctor sees Rose in the console room, but is she really there?


Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, because if I did, I wouldn't have written this here, I probably would have written it in a script.

Madness by LilyRoseXD

Little girls dream of madness,  
Of near by worlds, shooting stars,  
Everything seeming tangible,  
No wars or battle scars.

Mad men dream of the impossible,  
Things they may never see,  
Of far off places; lost friends faces,  
How things could never be...

* * *

Quiet Moments

It was one of those quiet moments after the Doctor and Amy Pond caught their breath from the last adventure.

They were sitting in the console room. Not rushing around, flipping buttons, laughing and running to the doors to see what awaited them out there. Just sitting. It was quiet, but not silent. The ever-present hum of the TARDIS somehow comforting and relaxing.

Amy was flipping through a magazine, not paying too much attention to it, just content to sit, breathe, and unwind. Every so often she glanced up at the Doctor, expecting him to be up and tapping his foot and waiting for her. However, every time she looked, he was sitting contentedly.

The Time Lord was sitting halfway up one of the staircases, fiddling with his sonic screwdriver absentmindedly. He was staring at nothing and didn't notice Amy gazing at him. She kept watching; it was such a rare moment for this man – who never stopped, never slowed and who was always running on to something else– to be so subdued and calm.

Watching him closely, Amy immediately noticed when his eyes focussed and saw how his whole face softened. She turned to follow his gaze but there was nothing in his line of sight except the wall of the TARDIS. Frown lines creased her face and, abandoning all subtlety, she lowered her magazine to observe him further.

The Doctor's fingers, which had been clutching the sonic screwdriver, relaxed. Gently dropping the device into his lap, his hands reached forward into empty space and his fingers danced through the air. He drew his arms back to himself, and fingers curled into palms as if he was bringing something back with him.

He shifted to one side of the stair on which he was sitting as Amy continued to watch. One of his hands reached down and patted the space next to him, inviting something intangible to join him. He retracted his hand and turned to smile at the space where the invisible being would be.

Amy jolted back in her seat, breath leaving her in a rush. His smile was so different to the one she was used to. The smile she knew was one that foretold adventure, one that hinted at danger and excitement, it was a smile of anticipation of what was to come. The smile that he gave the empty space beside him was one that belonged on another man. It spoke of the past and of memories from another time. It was as if his whole being was smiling, not just his mouth.

Still with that smile etched into his face, the Doctor stretched out a hand into the space. Amy watched on, stunned into utter silence, as the hand trembled as it moved through the air. His fingers laced through something insubstantial and then he let his hand rest on the stair. A sigh of content escaped through his smile and it drifted through the console room.

All of a sudden, Amy felt like she was intruding on something private, something she shouldn't be seeing. She hastily brought the magazine back up to her face, but found that she couldn't read a word. Swallowing, her eyes drifted over the top of the magazine to see the Doctor still smiling at nothing, looking happier and more content than she'd ever seen him.

For the first time, the Doctor noticed her gaze. The smile on his face vanished as he turned to her and just for a second, Amy felt a tremble of fear as she anticipated what he was going to say.

"Oh, I forgot I haven't introduced you yet, Amy," he babbled cheerily and most uncharacteristically. Her shoulders relaxed though she'd been unaware that they'd tensed at any point.

"Amy, this is Rose," he motioned to Amy and then to the empty space beside him with his free hand. His other hand, still resting on the stair, was tightly clutching nothingness.

"And Rose," he pulled 'Rose' towards him and then laughed, "this is Amy." Any attempt of a smile that Amy had been making disappeared when he laughed. Like the Doctor's new smile, it was something that had been unknown to her until now. She couldn't have possibly imagined he could have laughed like that.

"Uhh, Doctor…" she began, unsure how to tell him that 'Rose' wasn't real. She bit her lip, unable to come up with gentle enough words.

He waved a hand at her in dismissal. "I know what you're going to say, Amy, so spare me." He turned to the empty place beside him. "Rose, Amy doesn't think you're real!" He laughed loudly as if this was a great joke and nudged the air with his elbow.

Amy's eyebrows knitted together as she stared at this man, who she'd thought so great and so mighty. She hadn't really been _seeing_ him until now. Seeing how he was broken, dreaming of the past, lost and trapped in his own memories.

She bit her lip again, hands hovering over the magazine on her lap. Making her decision, she sighed and picked up the magazine. She brought it up over her face and didn't disturb the Doctor again, content to let him imagine if it made him happy.

So the madman with the box and the little girl who dreamed of the stars were quiet for a while.

And the little girl realised that she wasn't the only one who dreamed.


End file.
